pre-trip

Did you know that there are birds inside of JFK international airport? … If you did I would have appreciated a warning as 2 of them have already tried to attack me and I still have an hour until I board my flight to Paris France.  Sitting here feels so unreal, while Jill and I were eating our deluxe burger king dinner I said “you know it just feels like were in Etown cafeteria hanging out, not sitting in an airport about to go to France for a month. Well let me back track and fill you in on how I got to the point where I could embark on this journey.

            In fall semester 2011 I took a French class, my 6^th French class to date. After a year of not having French, I was nervous, but I ended up falling in love with the language and culture all over again. I had always spoken about traveling abroad, and my desire to go to France, but this time it was realistic. I knew If I went online and did my research I could find a cheap program, and get a loan, and go out to see the beautiful country that I have had so many dreams about. So I went on Google… Everyday. I looked up every possible program in France for every possible semester. I was crazed. After finding the perfect program, and making sure that the credits would transfer back to Etown I felt pretty ready to send in some applications. Wait… I’m a broke college kid… how am I going to afford this? This is another thing I Googled and prayed about for days. Then I had a light bulb go on in my head.  If I go to France in the summer, then to Rowan University in the fall, it will be the same price as going to Etown just for one semester in the fall of 2012. BRILLIANT… time to start applying, and making meetings to make sure this can work. After meeting with the chair of the OT department, center for student success, financial aid, and the study abroad office, everything was a go. It was funny every time I told someone my plans they would give me a puzzled look. They saw a crazy plan that would never work out, but with a little determination, and a big dream, I am here sitting in JFK waiting to board the plane. Oh by the way, the number of bird attacks has risen to 3.

P.S. I realize that English aficionado, and China Celebrity Kevin Beebe is my dad, I hope you don’t expect my grammar, and use of large intriguing words to be as good as his… maybe I’ll go buy a thesaurus.